A Piece of Pool History

David Marcus

David Marcus

"not bad,for a blind man"
Silver Member
With all this recent talk about the BCA Hall of Fame inductions, I thought I would share this piece of history. I remember distinctly sitting at the induction ceremony and listening to many disgruntled people chirping and complaining, saying things like.."Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?".
The rebuttal to that argument was, (which was the side I was and still am on), he was the most influential individual to bring pool to the masses.
I STAND BY THAT TILL THIS DAY! :thumbup2:

Notice the Autographs, at the end of the dinner, everyone was allowed to bring up their placemats to get autographs of all former inductees that were in attendance at the head table. Most of them have since passed on but how rare is it to have all those HOF members' autographs on one document?.... No, it's NOT for sale, just think it is a unique item that I wanted to share with my fellow AZers.
 
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Shakespeare ,and Mark Twain, probably give him a run for the money! But I know what you are saying.:wink:
 
I don't want Michael Phelan to be forgotten.
I think he was the most important man in North American billiards.
..player, author, inventor, manufacturer, promoter...
He was known as the Father of Billiards in America.

Those sights on the rails? Mr Phelan introduced the diamonds....
...in the middle 1800s

Without Phelan, Walter Tevis would've had nothing to write about...
...and Willie Mosconi might have sold shoes
 
pt109 said:
I don't want Michael Phelan to be forgotten.
I think he was the most important man in North American billiards.
..player, author, inventor, manufacturer, promoter...
He was known as the Father of Billiards in America.

Those sights on the rails? Mr Phelan introduced the diamonds....
...in the middle 1800s

Without Phelan, Walter Tevis would've had nothing to write about...
...and Willie Mosconi might have sold shoes
Click to expand...

I don't understand your post. Michael Phelan has been in the BCA HoF for 20 years.

Freddie <~~~ Confused as usual
 
David Marcus said:
With all this recent talk about the BCA Hall of Fame inductions, I thought I would share this piece of history. I remember distinctly sitting at the induction ceremony and listening to many disgruntled people chirping and complaining, saying things like.."Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?".
The rebuttal to that argument was, (which was the side I was and still am on), he was the most influential individual to bring pool to the masses.
I STAND BY THAT TILL THIS DAY! :thumbup2:
Click to expand...

It is a good thing he was inducted before any of the voters read "The Man Who Fell to Earth". I met him once in Tampa and had him autograph a copy of the Hustler. Unfortunately it was stolen in the pool room years later. If it ever shows up I can recognize it. When I knew he was going to be at the tournament I went looking for a copy of his book. I found one at a local library and checked it out. I later I paid for the book as a lost book because of course I never returned it. If anyone has a signed hard cover copy of the "Hustler" with a Tampa Library stamp in it, it's mine.
 
Dave- are you referring to Minnesota Fats or Walter Tevis? If it is Fatty, no question. Just tell anyone that you play pool and they will say something like "That Minnesota Fats is pretty good I hear." There are 2 pool players the world knows. Fatty and "The Black Widow"-- they might not know her name, but they know Jeanette Lee's handle.

As far a Tevis goes, I feel strongly both ways about that. It was an excellent romance novel that also used pool as a prop. But pool benefited.

Bob
 
Cornerman said:
Then Most Influential has got to be Wanderone.
Click to expand...

Only for his era....and New York Fats shares that with Walter Tevis.

Michael Phelan was a man for all seasons.....
...and still influences the game on this continent.

imo, of course
 
David Marcus said:
I was referring to Tevis... Think about it, those books aren't written and those movies aren't made....who would have ever heard of Fats?
Click to expand...

It's not relevant. Once Fats did become a public figure he really ran with it and promoted the game beyond anything ever did in the past. As much as the self promoter he was, he would go almost anywhere at his own expense to promote the game. I once was doing a charity event and wanted to have a pool exibition. I contacted a number of pros and they all wanted to be paid.

Miz, who was a friend, wanted $3000.00 and expenses. Then I got in touch with Fats and all he wanted was where and when to be there. In the end it fell through because I coud not get the hall from the city. When I contacted Fats and told him it was off, he sent me a check for $500.00 donation anyway for the kid we were doing the fund raiser for.

There has probably never been anyone who promoted the sport like Fats. Mosconi was so bad that after seeing his public act many people went away hating him and probably a poor view of the sport as well. He would actually insult people to their faces who came to see the show. I am not talking rumor, I saw him play dozens of time in exibitions. I have no ides why anyone ever hired him in the first place.
Jimmy Caras ran a very close second to Fats when it came to promoting the sport, he was very good in public. There was no one like Fats though, not before of since.
 
Anybody else remember this??

Just wondering....are there any of my fellow AZers that remember this event and trade show or am I just that much older than all of you??
 
Has Anyone out there seen one of these?

David Marcus said:
With all this recent talk about the BCA Hall of Fame inductions, I thought I would share this piece of history. I remember distinctly sitting at the induction ceremony and listening to many disgruntled people chirping and complaining, saying things like.."Why should he be in the Hall of Fame?".
The rebuttal to that argument was, (which was the side I was and still am on), he was the most influential individual to bring pool to the masses.
I STAND BY THAT TILL THIS DAY! :thumbup2:

Notice the Autographs, at the end of the dinner, everyone was allowed to bring up their placemats to get autographs of all former infuctees that were in attendance at the head table. Most of them have since passed on but how rare is it to have all those HOF members' autographs on one document?.... No, it's NOT for sale, just think it is a unique item that I wanted to share with my fellow AZers.
Click to expand...

Just Wondering, how rare is this? Anybody ever seen one?
 
macguy said:
....once Fats did become a public figure he really ran with it and promoted the game beyond anything ever did in the past...

There has probably never been anyone who promoted the sport like Fats.
....
There was no one like Fats though, not before of since.
Click to expand...

once Fats hopped onto the coat tails of Tevis' successful novel, he shamelessly promoted HIMSELF more than anyone ever has...except for maybe a few of the people here on AZ.

"Promote the sport" has a pretty wide definition...nonetheless I can name many people prior to Rudolph that promoted it much more than he did, and many people since, that have promoted it more than he did.

Just sayin.
 
FranCrimi said:
The Fats autograph is rare. He used to carry around a signature stamp and ink pad for autographs. The real ones are rare.

You've got a good one there.
Click to expand...

I've also seen business cards that he had made featuring his picture and a catchphrase that went something like " I've been hustled by Minnesota Fats " ...
 
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